Potchefstroom (South Africa): After losing the semifinal to the Netherlands 0-3, the Indians are now focused on their all-important bronze medal match against England on Tuesday in the FIH Hockey Women’s Junior World Cup.
The Salima Tete-led Indian team rued missed chances against the Netherlands in the semifinals. Tete said that the team has had a fruitful discussion post their semifinal debacle and are now focused on the task at hand in the bronze medal match.
“There is no point thinking about what’s happened in the past. Now we need to be absolutely focused on the upcoming match against England. Getting off to a good start against them will definitely give us the right momentum and that is what we will be looking for against them,” Tete said.
“We are quite disappointed from our match against Netherlands. We created so many chances but could not convert. It just felt like it wasn’t our day,” she said.
England, meanwhile, come into the bronze medal match after a 0-8 loss to Germany in the semifinal on Sunday. They were the table toppers from pool B, having beaten South Africa and Ireland convincingly.
In the quarterfinal they got the better of USA 2-1 in a thrilling encounter where England recovered from an early setback, having conceded a goal in the 3rd minute.
“England is a good side and we watched videos from their previous matches. I just feel it is important for us to be focused on our game and ensure we score from the chances we create and be tight in our defending. It’s important we don’t allow space for them and we must play to our strengths,” stated vice-captain Ishika Chaudhary.
